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IRS Awards $7 Million Fraud Prevention Contract To Equifax (politico.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: The IRS will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, even as lawmakers lash the embattled company about a massive security breach that exposed personal information of as many as 145.5 million Americans. A contract award for Equifax's data services was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities database Sept. 30 -- the final day of the fiscal year. The credit agency will "verify taxpayer identity" and "assist in ongoing identity verification and validations" at the IRS, according to the award. The notice describes the contract as a "sole source order," meaning Equifax is the only company deemed capable of providing the service. It says the order was issued to prevent a lapse in identity checks while officials resolve a dispute over a separate contract. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blasted the IRS decision.
Time to Start up a Class Action Against the IRS for ENABLING data compromised companies to perform government contracts involving IDENTITY! Appalling!
Someone should really drain that thing and build a castle...
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Equifax is the only company deemed capable ...
Since Equifax has shown to be very incapable (of exactly the things they should be capable of), what does this say about all other companies in this business?
Also it looks like they didn't have any choice as Equifax laughably appears to be the only company on their approved supplier list for this service
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
I may agree in other circumstances, but awarding a contract for fraud prevention to what's probably the largest victim of a form of fraud in human history- an entity that is now trying to deflect blame by citing conditions that they themselves created in the first place, is about as stupid as it gets.
Equifax deserves to have its charter revoked, basically the corporate death penalty, with its assets liquidated and all of the proceeds going to a mitigation fund to attempt to combat the expected identity theft that the public will see in the upcoming years. Its officers should be prosecuted and if the ensuing investigation shows they were willfully negligent, the personal gains they made through those negligent actions should be confiscated through a civil forfeiture process as they're sentenced to jailtime. This is not the company that one awards a no-bid contract to.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Why is it a "sole source orderâoe? We have verified at least a few other parties have access to all the same data now....
Their CEO and Chief Security Officer resigned, so the problem's fixed...
They will need a good fraud prevention program following the data breach by Equifax ... Oh wait!
It won't happen. Listen my fellow peasant, we have to just bend over and take it.
And when we get the letter stating that our taxes have already been filed (probably by some illegal alien using our SSN to get his refund and CTC, EITC, ACTC), WE will be the ones that will have to spend the time filling out forms to prove that we are who we are.
Then, every tax year, WE will have to provide the documentation stating that we are who we say we are.
All because businesses are careless with the data they insist on collecting about us. It's no skin off of their asses.
My wife's neurologist system was broken into and we got the letter stating that the break-in happened and "how they take patient privacy seriously".
Dumb shits.
Suck it up! There's nothing else to do!
We NEED European style privacy laws and regulations because businesses cannot be trusted to take responsibility.
[quote]The notice describes the contract as a "sole source order," meaning Equifax is the only company deemed capable of providing the service[/quote]
While that may have been true at the time of posting the order, pretty much every company has access to the same data as Equifax now.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
WTF.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This IRS calling to check your identity we need your
Name
Address
SS number or tax ID number
Remember, no bad deed goes unrewarded.
Ezekiel 23:20
Equifax is not actually preventing fraud. I worked a similar project where another government agency was also trying to prevent fraud and abuse, and we used Equifax as a data source specifically to confirm identities. You provide them certain information (first name, last name, date of birth, address, etc. etc.) and they would confirm whether you had the correct person, often filling in the blanks. The agency would then use that information, along with other inputs, to determine whether fraud was being committed.
The IRS is doing the same thing - given the information available, Equifax will confirm whether the IRS is looking at the correct person. While I agree that Equifax needs to get their house in order or even be completely shut down, the contract awarded does speak to the fact that there are precious few identity providers out there. In fact, this may just go to show how much congress would NOT wish to sign the Equifax death certificate when they have much to lose in the way of services provided by Equifax.
There is a reason we call it "Government Level Stupidity".
This is an ex-parrot!
The Dept. of Human Services has awarded a contract to a company formed by OJ Simpson, Robert Blake, and Scott Peterson to do research into domestic violence prevention and awareness.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper